Lalla Malika
Maghrebi folk supernaturalism · numen · Maghrebi folk supernaturalism traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Lalla Malika, 'the Queen', is the great lady-spirit of love and luxury in the Moroccan possession pantheon. She is pictured as an elegant woman of fastidious taste, fond of fine European clothes, mirrors, sweets and above all costly perfume, and she is drawn into the ceremony by exactly these things. Women bring her their troubles of the heart and the household, for she can confer beauty, charm, love and marital favour on those she takes and torment the negligent with quarrels and infatuation. Alongside Lalla Mira and Lalla Mimuna she belongs to the company of female spirits, the Lallas, whose successive descents structure the women's portions of the night liturgy.
Domains
- love
- perfume and luxury
Powers
- grants love, charm and favour
Relations
- companion: Lalla MiraInvoked together among the female mluk.Deborah Kapchan, Traveling Spirit Masters, 2007, pp. 60–72 (secondary)
- companion: Lalla MimunaNamed together among the Lallas of the pantheon.Abdelhafid Chlyeh, Les Gnaoua du Maroc, 1998, pp. 61–70 (secondary)
Sources
- Lalla Malika is a female spirit of the Gnawa and wider Moroccan possession cults, a refined lady-spirit of love, perfume and luxury petitioned for marital and amorous fortune.: Deborah Kapchan, Traveling Spirit Masters, 2007, pp. 63–68 (secondary); Viviana Pâques, La religion des esclaves, 1991, pp. 122–128 (secondary)